the classroom momentarily gasped in unision the moment jeongguk staggered in, his white-knuckled hands gripped on his clutches tightly. jeongguk rolled his eyes, hopping over to the back of the class, where he slumped into his chair. the metal legs of the chair harshly screeched against the tiled floor, silencing the class.

eunwoo stood at the front of the class, cleaning the blackboard. he turned his head and gave jeongguk a long, fixed glare.

jeongguk returned his stare with a taunting smile, his lips curling with perversity, goading him into a fight. jeongguk was a piece of shit like that— he couldn't help it.

the class must have noticed the animosity between them, because everybody kept their lips sealed, not daring to breathe a syllable.

eunwoo strode towards jeongguk with long, decisive steps, their eyes fixed in a perpetual staring contest. how was he going to react?

the last time he met jeongguk at the hospital, he had impulsively brought up the forbidden topic of hyerim's past. he was hoping that jeongguk wouldn't harp on it, but judging by the intensive glint in his eyes eunwoo knew he would.

"that day, you said i didn't know anything about her."

"you don't. so stay out of her life."

the students around them burst into a quiet murmur, trying to guess who this mystery girl was. she was a lucky girl, if cha eunwoo, the most handsome guy in the cohort liked her. not to mention jeon jeongguk, who was growing increasingly more attractive as the days went by... more and more girls paid attention to this brooding bad boy.

"tell me about her past."

"don't you think you should ask her about something like that?" eunwoo paused, crossing his arms before adding, "maybe she just doesn't trust you."

jeongguk rose from his chair abruptly and grabbed eunwoo's collar, the clutches by his sides clattering to the floor in a tumultuous clang of metal. the tug of his collar tightened the fabric around his neck, yet eunwoo felt nothing but seething anger towards jeongguk.

"fuck off cha eunwoo. nothing you do can make me stay away from her."